Week 15

Summer has certainly arrived in the Shooter's Grove gardens. We have had little rain and our young plants can get stressed very quickly in the heat. Usually, watering is done either early in the mornings before the sun hits the plants to prevent scorch, or as the sun sets to help prevent too much evaporation. Our younger Beez have been given the responsibility of watering all our containers each morning before the sun reaches the containers.

The Veg-e-tables in the Junior area were planted up this week. In each of these colourful containers, the Busy Beez planted a couple of cherry tomato plants called Minibel. These were started off as seeds and kept in my own greenhouse until we were ready to plant them out. This is a tomato suitable to grow in hanging baskets and containers, and the small red fruits should appeal to the children.

At the moment, each plant has small yellow flowers, called sets. These will be visited by passing insects who will pollinate them, and then when the flowers fall off, the tiny tomatoes will be forming behind, within a few weeks, these will swell and turn red. Yummy.

Also in these containers, we have planted a variety of pepper called Razzamatazz, and a couple of courgettes called Black Beauty from the BBC's Dig In Campaign. The courgettes have flower buds already, so it shouldn't be too long before our Busy Beez begin to see the fruits of their labour.

The planters are in full sun for pretty much all of the day, so they will need attending to each day, watering, feeding, and checking for pests.